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Show ftgfr fegEty MUSS' Halloween Safety Tips Word on the Street laced with poison, glass or other injurious ingredients that have cast a pall over what can otherwise be a safe and fun holiday. A simple precaution to avoid such hazards is for parents to urge their children to wait until they return home before eating any of their treats. All treats should be thoroughly examined for any sign of tampering. Throw away unwrapped candy, and be very careful of homemade items and fruit it the treater is not well known to you. them to come inside. All obstacles Parents of young trick or treaters should be removed from steps, sidetrick and should accompany them, and treating should be confined to walks and lawns so that children wont trip. Homeowners should the immediate neighborhood area. visit also keep the outside lights on so also told be to Children should well-l- it children can see where they are homes. Well-l- it homes generally welcome trick or treaters. If walking. Vandalism can and often does the lights are out, the resident may tarnish Halloween night fun. be discouraging Halloween guests. Halloween costumes can be both Parents must encourage their children to participate in constructive fun and safe, particularly if makeup activities. What may seem fun at used. rather than masks are the time, may cost someone else a comfortand is more safer Makeup lot. Alert citizens can help keep able than a mask, which may block vision. Long costumes, high heels, "Halloween vandalism-fre- e by and poorly fitting shoes can result reporting suspicious persons or in injury by causing a child to trip. activities to the police. Bountiful is a great community Children should also carry a flashin and raise children. If we to live dark. light if they out after continue to be aware of potential see to children enable Flashlights and be seen. dangers and educate our children Adults answering the door for about safety, tragedy can be avoided. Have a happy, safe Halloween! trick or treaters should greet children at the door, not encourage RHETT theyre told they only imagined Halloween is an exciting and memorable time for children. With a few safety reminders, those memories can be positive ones. A child looks forward to only the good things about Halloween, said Officer Julie Wilcox of the Bountiful Police Department. Unfortunately, there have been incidents persons passing out treats continued from front of the wide variety of symptoms its victims exhibit. Rhett Syndrome victims often wind up in inappropriate programs because of misdiagnosis. Julia was diagnosed autistic, but when her mother, Carrol Bybee, took her to a class for autistic kids, she could see her daughter didnt exhibit the classic symptoms. Tammy was also diagnosed autistic, but her mom, Bonnie VanEtten, felt that diagnosis was wrong from the start. So far, there are no treatments, except for seizure control, and the cause of the disease is unknown. Since it affects only girls, believed the X its chromosome is involved. Karen Andre, Katies mother said the disproportional number in Davis County can be attributed to better diagnosis. She said one particular doctor, Fran Tate has a track record of correctly diagnosing victims. Katie was correctly diagnosed at age six, Tammy at Five and f, and Julia at about age 10. Andre, and the other mothers have all seen girls theyre sure have one-hal- Rhett Syndrome in programs treating other diseases. Girls with Rhett Syndrome develop normally until six to 18 months old. Its then regression sets in. A toddler who crawled or walked one day, loses that ability. A baby who was well on her way to talking, cant anymore. Parents are confounded when they see their baby daughter losing skills she had gained and they sometimes are made to feel guilty by other family members or the medical profession who tell them they must have done something wrong. Other times their daughter ever had those skills. Rhett Syndrome girls have bright eyes and wring their hands together as if in prayer. Its often that hand wringing which gives a parent or doctor their first clue to the problem. The girls have some degree of scoliosis (curvature of the spine). Katie had surgery for her scoliosis two years ago and has grown significantly since then. The girls also look young for their age. Twenty year old Shauna, looks about 13. Seventeen year old Julia looks about 12 and old Tammy looks about 10, except her developing bustline. Only Katie at 11 looks her age. They have small heads and feet. While theyre usually a normal size at birth, growth is retarded later. Tammy talks. Its only a few words spoken occasionally, although the girls are excellent at letting their needs be known. While they are retarded, each girls unique personality comes through. VanEtten said Tammy can understand about 80 percent of what is said to her. She has a sense of humor and loves to tease especially people who may stare at her disability. Shell walk up to them, stare them down and roar at them, then shell laugh. Katie, Julia and Shauna are less outgoing than Tammy, but Bybee said when Julia and Tammy get together they laugh and carry on like any two girls. Rhett Syndrome girls will answer yesno questions with a blink of their eyes and they respond to various stimulus. Friends are discouraged from talking down to the girls. That upsets them, since they know what is going on. Rhett victims go through various stages, with unique symptoms at each stage some of which should qualify the parents for sainthood for dealing with them. Tammy wrung her hands so hard they bled. The family wrapped her hands in mittens or socks to give them time to heal, and if her hands agree with the Cache County School Districts decision to cancel Do you the rest of the Skyview High School football teams season? Its pretty harsh, but what can you do. You got to stop hazing somehow. Youve got to get kids attention. If kids morals are that low, youve got to come down on them. all there is to it. Without parameters set, kids will go as far as they can go. Thats John Steed Farmington dont like hazing. Im all for the district cancelling their season, I just because of their attitude. dont think it would teach the footI ball players any lessons if they were allowed to play out the rest of the season. Julie Moran Farmington werent enclosed, the family would tell Tammy to break your hands. If she didnt break them apart, a family member would help break them apart. The Rhett Syndrome newsletter cautions parents not to slap the hands apart, since the When I was a senior, they claimed seniors made fun of a performer. So we had no assemblies for the rest of the year...The whole school was punished. So I agree with what the district did to Skyview High School. They should cancel all their football games for the rest of the year." Vickie Beghtel girls are not being purposely disruptive by wringing their hands. Seizures are common. At age three, Tammy would have seizures in which she would bang her head so hard she cut her head open. VanEtten got a helmet, but Tammy would throw it off. Julia banged her head at about the same age. Bybee credits the familys strong faith prayer and fasting, with ending Julias seizures for a number of years. Most girls go through a crying and screaming stage. VanEtten said Farmington -- Tammys lasted two years. Luckily, Julia missed that stage. The girls often grind their teeth and have Rhett Spells or vacant spells as VanEtten calls them. They also have trouble making contact. Katie never walked. Julia walks with assistance and Tammy walks, although she is not steady on her feet. A bicycle helmet protects her eye-to-e- It would depend on the kids. I know some kids who would be devastated. But there are other kids who would love being the center of attention. If it was a case of superior jocks hazing a kid they didnt want on the team, then I think that the districts decision was a good thing." Brent Craven Deweywille head from falls. Shauna is wheelchair-bound- Im a teacher, and think they did what they needed to do. dont know if the whole team should be affected if the whole team was not involved. Sometimes we have to teach hard lessons. But overall, feel they (the district) was fair. Michael Hansen Clearfield . I There are Rhett Syndrome I victims as old as 54, Andre said, but most die in their 20s or 30s most often from something resembling Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. For further information on the disease, contact the International Rhett Syndrome Association, 8511 I Rose Marie Drive, Fort Washington, MD 20744 or call (301)248-703- 1. i-- S - ; i. iVJ. |